Weekend Project: Protest March

It is a moment I was not prepared for.  This is not a new occurrence for me, my first child, an amazing daughter, has been pushing my boundaries since the day she was born. This day would be no different.  She came to me and explained that there was going to be an environmental march downtown in Buenos Aires and she would like to attend.

For those unfamiliar with the latin culture and our famous hotblooded politics let me explain...you see for us, politics is something emotional and anything emotional can become physical.  I am naturally weary of protest marches in Argentina however this one seemed on the tamer side of things. I offered to take her and she brightened up immediately.  I would have been happy to drop her off but she seemed pleased I would be there.  Again, another surprise.

I grabbed the Nikon F2 I had just finished servicing, and two rolls of film.  I selected a 35mm lens as I am still not liking the 28mm lens I have for the Nikon (a matter of getting used to the perspective) but can quickly picture a 35mm focal length.  I wanted something wider than a 50mm do to the tight area I knew I would be in but I also did not want a great deal of distortion.

Off we went to walk to the protest starting off point.  The protest was to start at the Pink House (here the President lives in a pink house) and march to congress.  At congress we were to hear a few speeches then it would end in a cloud of pot.

The march was wonderful, people were friendly and supportive and it was made up by mostly young people filled with illusion and determination.  It was wonderful to walk around them and gain from their energy level.  

For photographers, marches are wonderful events.  People go to these events specifically to get attention to their cause and hence was photographs to be taken.  They welcome it. So taking candid photos of people all over the street is simple and welcome. There is no perceived invasion of privacy and they want to be noticed.  

Photographers of every ilk ran around snapping up photographs as if there was no tomorrow (and for digital there really isn't).  People posed, sang, danced and obviously marched.  

Whenever I photograph these odd events, where family and friends are not the subject matter, I usually do not come back to them.  In other words, I shoot the images, develop them, may print a few but then I do not go back.  Obviously I keep the negatives, but it is not something I typically return to.  In order to make the entire process of some value, I need to tie it into a project, a short one but something that has a clear deliverable at the end.

Weekend Project:
I have developed the two rolls of film and now I will find four or five shots and make a type of collage out of them.  All will be in black and white however I did take a few shots on my phone so I may have one printed in color for the middle of the collage. I will see how it all comes together and go from there.  My goal here is to finish this weekend with a framed collage of this protest to give to my daughter as a gift to commemorate her first march.

Lessons Learned:

• Trust my daughter to push me out of my comfort zone...always.
• Take a wide angle lens.
• Be ready to take a great deal of pictures as people WANT their picture taken.
• It is chaotic so watch your personal belongings.
• The perspective of the images becomes monotonous so change your vantage point, go high, low close up and farther away